Application agnostic UI integration framework for web based applications

• US 8,788,946 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2009
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Hegde, Arjun, Goel, Ankit, Mukka, Sunitha, Hora, Thomas, Alli, Sunitha
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANK, ANDREW L
• Application Number:
  US12/611,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20110107266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736, 715/739, 715744-747, 715/760, 715/234, 715/236, 715/239, 715/762
• US Class Current: 715/746
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for implementing application agnostic UI integration. Aspects of the invention relates to a generic architecture and a framework, which leverage the capabilities of a middleware server and application integration concepts, to support launching a User Interface (UI) of any target application from any source application. The source application can invoke, for example, a HTTP get request or fires a HTTP post to the target application, and the same interaction can take place while returning control back from target application to source application. Additionally, the target application can invoke a service hosted on the source application to return the control back to source application.

Claims

1. A method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, the method comprising:

receiving, by an application computer system executing a UI servlet from a source application running on a source computer system, a request to instantiate an instance of a UI provided by a target application running on a target computer system, the request including a set of parameters from the source application wherein the application computer system provides a generic architecture and framework for web based interactions between the source application and the target application and wherein the framework is configured to launch the instance of the UI provided by the target application from any source application;

determining, by the application computer system, an application specific class of the target application for the instance of the UI provided by the target application;

looking up, by the application computer system a class name for the application specific class of the target application for the instance of the UI provided by the target application in configuration XML of the UI servlet based on the set of parameters from the source application;

using, by the application computer system, a pre-built factory class to create an object of the application specific class of the target application based on the determined application specific class and the class name;

getting, by the application computer system, a URL and parameters for the created object; and

integrating, by the application computer system, the instance of the UI provided by the target application into a UI of the source application by redirecting the request from the source application using the URL and parameters for the created object.

2. The method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 1, wherein the set of parameters from the source application comprise a source system name, a target system name, and a module name.

3. The method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 2, wherein the determining of the application specific class of the instance of the UI provided by the target application is based, at least in part, on the source system name, the target system name, and the module name.

4. The method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 1, further comprising returning an invalid input message in response to the URL being invalid.

5. The method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 1, further comprising looking up cross-reference information to determine request parameters to be initialized for the instance of the UI provided by the target application.

6. The method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 1, further comprising looking up a domain value map to determine request parameters to be initialized for the instance of the UI provided by the target application.

7. The method of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 1, wherein the pre-built class is configured to be reused for subsequent UI integrations.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein getting the URL and parameters for the created object comprises retrieving a URL of the target application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein retrieving the URL of the target application comprises retrieving a default URL.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein retrieving the URL of the target application comprises invoking a web service and receiving from the web service the URL of the target application.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein retrieving the URL of the target application comprises retrieving a custom URL based on application of business logic.

12. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement application agnostic UI integration by;

executing generic architecture and framework for web based interactions between a source application and a target application, wherein the framework includes a UI servlet and wherein the framework is configured to launch the UI of the target application from the source application;

receiving from the source application a request to instantiate an instance of a UI provided by a target application, the request including a set of parameters from the source application;

determining an application specific class of the target application for the instance of the UI provided by the target application;

looking up a class name for the application specific class of the target application for the instance of the UI provided by the target application in configuration XML of the UI servlet based on the set of parameters from the source application;

using a pre-built factory class to create an object of the application specific class of the target application based on the determined application specific class and the class name;

getting a URL and parameters for the created object; and

integrating the instance of the UI provided by the target application into a UI of the source application by redirecting the request from the source application using the URL and parameters for the created object.

13. The system of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 12, wherein the set of parameters from the source application comprise a source system name, a target system name, and a module name.

14. The system of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 13, wherein the determining of the application specific class of the instance of the UI provided by the target application is based, at least in part, on the source system name, the target system name, and the module name.

15. The system of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 12, further comprising returning an invalid input message in response to the URL being invalid.

16. The system of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 12, further comprising looking up cross-reference information to determine request parameters to be initialized for the instance of the UI provided by the target application.

17. The system of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 12, further comprising looking up a domain value map to determine request parameters to be initialized for the instance of the UI provided by the target application.

18. The system of implementing application agnostic UI integration, as in claim 12, wherein the pre-built class is configured to be reused for subsequent UI integrations.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement application agnostic UI integration by:

executing generic architecture and framework for web based interactions between a source application and a target application, wherein the framework includes a UI servlet and wherein the framework is configured to launch the UI of the target application from the source application;

receiving from the source application a request to instantiate an instance of a UI provided by a target application, the request including a set of parameters from the source application;

determining an application specific class of the target application for the instance of the UI provided by the target application;

looking up a class name for the application specific class of the target application for the instance of the UI provided by the target application in configuration XML of the UI servlet based on the set of parameters from the source application;

using a pre-built factory class to create an object of the application specific class of the target application based on the determined application specific class and the class name;

getting a URL and parameters for the created object; and

integrating the instance of the UI provided by the target application into a UI of the source application by redirecting the request from the source application using the URL and parameters for the created object.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as in claim 19, wherein the set of parameters from the source application comprise a source system name, a target system name, and a module name.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as in claim 20, wherein the determining of the application specific class of the instance of the UI provided by the target application is based, at least in part, on the source system name, the target system name, and the module name.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as in claim 19, further comprising returning an invalid input message in response to the URL being invalid.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as in claim 19, further comprising looking up cross-reference information to determine request parameters to be initialized for the instance of the UI provided by the target application.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as in claim 19, further comprising looking up a domain value map to determine request parameters to be initialized for the instance of the UI provided by the target application.